[HPforGrownups] CHAPTER DISCUSSION Chamber of Secrets Ch. 2, Dobby's Warning

[Bart Lidofsky]

No: HPFGUIDX 188743

Sherry Gomes wrote:
> Questions for discussion:
> 1) We first learn of House Elves in this chapter. What was your reaction to
> Dobby's self-punishments and description of his the conditions of his
> enslavement?
>
> Sherry now:
> I didn't like Dobby at first, found him highly annoying in fact.  But the
> whole idea of house elf enslavement bothered me in a visceral way, till the
> end of the series and beyond.  It was one of the big things left unresolved
> at the end of DH and I felt kind of cheated about that.  By the end of COS,
> though I still hadn't come to like Dobby, I was happy and relieved that
> Harry got him his freedom and moved by his reactions.
>   

Bart:
    I'm using Sherry's reply as more of a springboard than discussing 
precisely what she said. Before we go into the WW, I'd like to bring up 
a phenomenon in the "real world". Here, we have a huge gap between 
animal intelligence and human intelligence. Animal intelligence tends to 
reach about the level of a normal human 2 year old. However, when humans 
reach two, instead of plateauing out (I can't believe I spelled that 
right on the first try), they enter a period of accelerated learning 
that lasts until ages 6-12. Linguistic scientists have theorized that 
what differentiates humans is the ability to form abstract thoughts. 
Without going into technical jargon, language can be brought into three 
levels. You have the first level, where the thing is the thing. Meaning 
that you know something by the sensory information you receive from it. 
The second level is where one thing implies another thing, the use of 
symbols. At the simplest level, where there's smoke, there's fire. More 
advanced, the written word, "banana" symbolizes a banana; this is where 
the most advanced animals, like dolphins, elephants, and apes can reach. 
However, what humans can do is to create databases, where symbols are 
connected not to the physical thing, but to other symbols, creating 
another dimension of thought. This is a problem that tends to be ignored 
in fantasy where animals can speak, but retain the same basic psychology 
they appear to have when they don't. The basic psychology of animals who 
could speak is so major a step that the animal would have a radically 
different personality, to an extent that it would not be that animal 
anymore, but a new creature entirely.

    Animal behaviorists, except for a few who like grabbing headlines, 
accept that animals are not humans, and that behavior that appears 
similar to humans are not necessarily due to the same causes. Baby apes 
and elephants, if their mothers die, will stand by their mothers, even 
after the rest of their pack moves away. It looks like human mourning, 
but it is far more connected that the young animals take all their cues 
of behavior from their mothers, and without their mother moving, they 
just sit waiting for the next cue. Many major problems that occur 
between humans and their pets occur because the humans are interpreting 
the behavior as human behavior, rather than animal behavior.

    Rowling, apparently not understanding the full language (as opposed 
to use of combined symbols, such as what apes supposedly taught "sign 
language" use; you can ask any deaf person about the difference), and 
creates creatures which use language, but have different psychologies 
from humans. The centaurs, for example, clearly have human level 
intelligence, but a different psychology (although there are some 
similarities to the culture of, for example, the Lenape Indians in the 
United States, although the culture of the latter was based largely on 
the fact that the sparse population combined with plentiful food, easy 
shelter and lack of disease, leaving plenty of time for philosophical 
contemplation and relative lack of importance for day-to-day issues).

    The House Elves, which were probably created magically, clearly have 
a psychological need to serve. From what we have seen, by House Elf 
standards, Dobby was insane. One can only assume that it was his 
servitude to the Malfoys that drove him insane. Now, going into some 
logic that JKR may not have gone into, or even thought about, it is 
clear that house elf magic is, in several if not many ways, more 
powerful than wizard magic (ability to aport into Hogwarts, intercept 
mail without detection, apparently able to perform advanced spells 
without years of training). Frankly, it is probably insanity to create 
an intelligent servant creature more powerful than its masters; the WW 
apparently put some very powerful safeties into the House Elf psychology 
to prevent them from taking over (probably on the order of Asimov's 3 
Laws of Robotics, which he initially considered to be a basic 
engineering solution rather than the philosophical problem it morphed 
into). Part of this, one would expect, would be a major block against 
injuring wizards or humans. Given the organic rather than mechanical 
nature of the house elf's brains, the clear priorities in Asimov's laws, 
which are based on the idea of programmed, constructed brains, would not 
be as clear. If Dobby were ordered to do things which were borderline 
against his House Elf nature, causing a conflict, that could create an 
insanity (there is literary precedent; the the computer HAL in 2001: A 
SPACE  ODYSSEY is a good example of apparent insanity as a resolution of 
resolving mutually exclusive and equally strong directives).

    My guess is that the Malfoys had been involving Dobby in borderline 
forbidden acts, that Dobby somehow had a part in the Chamber of Secrets 
plot, and his personality alteration and subsequent actions were his 
means of resolving the powerful psychological conflicts within.

    Bart